Lunes

So. Today is Monday. Its not worth writing about anything before 4 today. Or, as a matter of fact, much of the stuff after 4 either. So I won't bother writing about it.

The one thing worth writing about today was work. I worked in the basement, which i love because I get to actually converse with the customers and, usually, put my not-quite-nine-years of Spanish to use. (one second- I need to put on glasses: my contacts are driving me crazy. Ok. So.) Today, around 5:30, I met a really interesting man. He was Mexican (yes, I know for a fact that he was actually from Mexico, I'm NOT being ignorant), older - probably in his fifties, around 5' 6"ish. Spoke pretty good english, but with a heavy but fairly understandable accent (sorry, I love accents)Black hair that hadn't quite yet turned gray, wrinkles. But he still seemed young. This man came down with a peachy-tinted creme jacket and skirt set, size 6. Note: for the dialogue, I'm going to write theater script-style: italics=my comments.  He said (roughly, I don't remember exact words, but its too confusing to write this another way)  standing off to the side, more speaking to himself than me "I'm considering this. I want to get it for my wife I'm not sure he meant wife-I'm thinking I misheard- you'll understand later but I'm not sure if it will fit... now actually talking too me Do you think it would fit? She's about your size, but not so thin thank you for the complement, it brightened my day , and she's more... she has more...  he kind of drifted off I'm assuming he was thinking something about her being wider or more busty- who knows? " --END OF DIALOGUE WEIRD STAGE WRITING-- I tried to answer the best I could but I wasn't quite sure. His description was kind of vague, don't you agree? It wouldn't fit me, because I honestly am skinny - I'm not bragging, it's just a fact. Anyway, he hung it up on the corner of a shelf-so it wouldn't wrinkle- and continued to shop. The man came back up, say, 10 or so minutes later with some stuff to leave on the counter, so he didn't have to carry it around. Among those items was a blue, glass, star of David- shaped candle holder -probably an inch high, 2 or 3 inches across. He set it on the counter, and began explaining (I hadn't asked about the object, i hadn't even noticed it) that he collected candle holders and that he had found many of them in our shop. I've never heard of someone collecting them before, its really a neat/unique (maybe?) idea/hobby. Then he half talked to me/ half talked to himself about the clothes again, mentioning that it cost $18, but it would cost so much more at another store, and it's a skirt and jacket. Then he mentioned osmething about a bag and sontinued shopping again. The third time he came up, about 1 minute later, he brought this bordering-on-tacky gold colored tree, with stars instead of leaves. It was made a wire and a plasticy shiny gold sort of paper(?)ish stuff. It was maye 10" tall, 10x8 wide/long. He made a comment about how much he liked it and set it on the counter and continued shopping. The last time he came up, he asked to see a 50 cent chef's knife in the knife window/ cabinet thing and started putting everything he was getting into a basket to carry upstairs. When he picked up the tree, he made a comment about how much he liked it again, and said he was going to put it on the table in his living room. Then he said (again, roughly) "You know, I am divorced twice. Both times I got very lucky. They were both really delicate-like you. But now I have this girlfriend, and she's white like you. That's why I want to get her this jacket. I want to go home to Mexico, but she say 'I don't speak Spanish'. She want to go to Poland, but I don't speak Polish. That's our only problem. I don't want to spend my whole life here in Chicago. The cold...  Poland is like here. I've lived here 27 year. I want to go home." Then he said a few more things about the outfit, and decided to go ask the people upstairs to see if they would know. And then he left. He was such an amazing guy. The way he spoke- when he said he was going to but the tree on the table, I could see it on  an end table, maybe on a white table cloth, with the light from the candles in his candle holders bouncing off the golden stars, emitting a warm glow... The way he spoke- and the look in his eyes... they looked so sad when he talked about home, and they glowed when talking about his girlfriend... I wish him luck, he seems like a good man.